Selling Faulty Items

[yubsesperat]

here's my dilemma.

i bought a bass from another older guy here in the forums. here is what happened.

1. asked for a discount because i was on a tight budget but told the guy that i would understand if he wont budge in. after a few days he smsed saying hes willing to accept my offer but i had to make a quick, no fuzz deal.

2. i had asked to come over to his place so i could test the bass and also not to inconvenience him. he said just do cash and carry on this certain MRT station. so since he gave me a good discount, i agreed to him.

3. met him and inspected the bass. asked him if everything works well. he said yes. paid him and took the bass.

4. i tested that bass that night and found that it was making a scratchy sound which would come and go. i thought it just had an old potentiometer so i didnt bother to tell the seller. thought id just bring it to TYMC for a quick pot change.

5. 2 days after, i was admitted to the hospital and later on had to go through surgery. so i was out for a good 3 weeks.

6. right when i sent the bass to TYMC, it appeared that the ground wires on the volume pot was loose so the guy from TYMC thought it just needed some fixing on the bad soldering the was previously done. also, the volume pot had been changed before (easy to know because it was a short-shaft one, the knob barely hung on it and it was different from the other pots in the bass). the seller never told me about this. he told me about the 'upgrades' made on the bass but never told me about repair history.

7. so i came back to TYMC and the bass still had that scratching sound even with the volume pot changed and wirings done properly. the guy in the shop told me that the preamp could be busted/spoilt.

8. so i smsd the seller. told him about this. after countless sms, he replied: sorry to hear that. that is the risk of buying second hand stuff. i was flabergasted. he didnt even care to ask about the issue regarding the bass or showed interest in finding out what was wrong with it. he even told me: i tested the bass before i sold it to you and it was working fine so 'my conscience is clear'. even lectured me about him having bought a DVD player from ebay that didnt work and could do anything about it. how much crap is that, right? when you buy something that does work on ebay, you can complain to the seller and if the seller wont do anything about it, ebay can do something about it.

even reasoned with me that he sold it to me with a huge discount. im thinking that is besides the point. whether i bought it on full price or discounted price, it doesnt matter.

i cant describe my frustation right now. its futile reasoning with this man because hes an old stuborn man, condescending if i may add that he should say that he sold me the bass at that price because he took pity on me because i badly needed a bass. what an ass, right?

now im faced to spend money on something i badly needed to have on a budget.

im leaning towards believing that this man scammed me. why?

1. he didnt want to do any testing on the item, just meet up.

2. very eager to sell the bass so urgently, saying he will not give it the discounted price if i dont deal quickly, even if i was willing to test it at his convinience.

i learned my lesson to test everything before i buy. but sellers, be kind. dont be so sketchy. tell everything about the item, including issues. if it has past repairs or parts changed. dont keep the buyer in the dark. there is such thing as karma!

ive bought and sold stuff eversince but this is the first time this has happened to me. lesson learned.

warning: this guy is still selling stuff in this forum. i highly urge you to test everything you buy from him. yes, perhaps he never had problems with other stuff he sold but if he did this once, he might do it again (forum name: bassmentone)

 

[relinquish69]

As an online buyer / seller myself, I give all my buyers 3 months warranty for items they buy from me. That gesture is to prove to them that even without testing, my items are fully functional. Even though most of the stuff I sell don't belong to me, I make it a point to test and even service if necessary the stuff prior to selling it. However the one thing I noticed is that a lot of people I deal with do not appreciate the fact that an instrument is set up properly. Makes me feel stupid sometimes.

I always tell buyers if they have a problem, I can be contacted via any means. I've had my fair share of bad trades / buys (even to date) but because of those shit deals, I've learnt how to be a better seller myself.

Even for a cautious person like myself, sometimes I trust people based on reputation. When that trust is breached, I never look back.

The most fair line from sellers would be: "Any problems please let me know, we can discuss". However not to be entirely biased, everyone has their different "policies" when it comes to selling. Let's say a certain part of a guitar is spoilt & it was not mentioned, I would most definitely ask for a partial refund instead of a full one just to be fair (unless I know for sure that the part is obsolete and there are no replacements). The most famous line I get when such a problem occurs is "Sorry bro I bought it like that, what to do?". Yes I get this kind of replies even from senior members here. Trust? doesn't matter which forum is it man. you are dealing with people you don't know personally.

Reliable buyers or not, please check the item thoroughly and also check their terms and conditions when it comes to faulty parts. That's why I prefer people to email me as opposed to sms-ing. Those people who bug you for your number just want a fast deal anyways.

 

[bluesk]

No, i do not think it is okay to sell faulty items unless the buyer has been warned in advance.
Secondhand does not to equate to having problems. It may mean there are certain defects, be it cosmetically or otherwise, but it is the onus of the seller to inform probable buyers.

 

[ShredAddict]

Time will eventually show who are the people you can actually trust and people you can't. Those people who cannot understand this concept will be blacklisted soon enough.

I don't like sellers who like telling me stories on money management. I don't treat guitars like investments. I think they are meant to be played. I don't like it when they start telling me things like "over here you save $200 over there you save another $100. In total you are saving $300". Wow, you sell guitar or did you just become my financial adviser? save the bullshit cos if I get a faulty guitar at the end of the day, saving that $300 might potentially make me lose $500. This is why I hate salesmen. They only tell you the good stuff.

I must give credit to one prominent online seller here relinquish69. I've bought a few stuff from him & his after sales service has always been consistent. the people he know really have some good stuff to let go every now and then.

 

[senn_liu]

No doubt it looks like the seller may have pulled a fast one on you, but if the cost of restoring the item to good working condition isn't high, it might still work out as an ok deal for you.

I'm not saying that it's ok for the seller to do what he did, but you can take some comfort in my above point.

One thing to consider, though:
If you were the seller, and you really passed an item you thought was in perfect working condition to a buyer, and the buyer complains that the item is faulty more than 20 days later, would you entertain his complaints?

I wouldn't. After all, who knows what the item went through in that period of 3 weeks?

This thread could've easily been started by the seller e.g.

"I sold this guy a bass at a low price 3 weeks ago. He wanted to test it at my place but I wasn't comfortable with that, so I suggested meeting at an MRT station AND HE AGREED. Now, THREE WEEKS later, he is complaining that the item is faulty. I think this guy damaged the bass in the past two weeks and now he's trying to get money back. What a scammer."

 

[relinquish69]

hoho if you sell things on eBay, you'll see the immediate difference when it comes to buying and selling. the seller always loses out.

I can give the buyer a full refund on my item but if he refuses to pay for the shipping cost back, I will never see my item again. No matter how many cases I opened, the case got dragged until the item itself got deleted from the system hence the transaction becomes "invalid". happened once. That's why I rather sell things here compared to anywhere else. where such rules don't apply.

I've too much of the "eBay mentality" in me and I value my reputation. Flexibility > saving $5 - $10 any day.